Leave it to a couple of NBA front offices to prove at Monday’s contract extension deadline that the biggest reason owners are pushing for a hard salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement is to save them from themselves.
Either that, or the Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks are angling to get contracted.
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There’s no other logical explanation for Memphis deciding to guarantee $40 million over five years to point guard Mike Conley instead of allowing him to become a restricted free agent in an uncertain labor market next summer.
Meanwhile, Atlanta center Al Horford — an NBA all-star — was deserving of his $60 million over five years, except for the problem of context. The combination of Horford’s deal and Joe Johnson‘s max-level $124 million have ensured that it’s not a matter of if, but when Josh Smith, Jamal Crawford and Marvin Williams get elbowed out of the Hawks’ nest while Atlanta gets no further than the second round of the playoffs for the foreseeable future.
The league’s business model is more than broken. NBA general managers are smashing it into irreparable pieces.
